In the village of Haripur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Zainab Nazir, an educated woman with a Master’s degree once saw her ambitions fading into the background of daily domestic responsibilities. Despite her talent for stitching, living far from commercial markets left her feeling disconnected from any opportunity to grow or earn.

Her turning point came when the Ba-Ikhtiyar (Empowered Women) Project reached her community. Jointly supported by Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund and PTCL Group, the initiative focused on empowering women through vocational skills development and digital inclusion. During a community-level Training Needs Assessment, Zainab was identified among 100 women with strong entrepreneurial potential and selected to participate in the programme.

Zainab was enrolled in a structured training programme at the TEVTA Skills Centre, where she enhanced her stitching skills and received comprehensive support in life skills, financial literacy, and digital literacy. As part of the project, she was also equipped with a smartphone, internet access, and hands-on training in e-commerce—including onboarding on the Daraz platform.

Equipped with new skills, tools, and market access, Zainab turned her home-based stitching into a thriving online business. Her monthly income has surged from a modest PKR 2,000–5,000 to an impressive PKR 75,000, a transformation she attributes entirely to the support she received. “This project revived everything I had studied and dreamed of. For the first time, I truly feel Ba-Ikhtiyar (empowered),” she says with pride.

What started as simple dressmaking at home has grown into a flourishing online business. Today, she receives orders nationwide and internationally through the Daraz E-commerce platform and collaborates with RASTAH, a renowned Pakistani international apparel brand.